Dog or cat owners want the best for their pets, and that includes healthy food. Pet food must meet certain nutritional requirements in Europe, as set by FEDIAF (The European Pet Food Industry). However, there’s a catch: pet food tests are conducted in cages and don’t always represent pets of all shapes and sizes. Home pet food testing, conducted by owners themselves, may be the future. “This has the potential to take the entire market to the next level,” stressed Evelien Bos, researcher at Wageningen University & Research (WUR).
Why you need to know this:
The new collaboration between animal feed companies and Wageningen University & Research enables the food industry to better respond to the needs of pets.
The last four years have seen a special collaboration between animal feed companies and WUR. The companies have collectively donated €325,000, allowing Evelien Bos to start her research on testing at home. Pet owners conduct tests themselves. They collect data and send samples back to the lab. In addition, video analysis provides insight into the animals’ food preferences.
Digestibility studies for dogs began in 2020 (The Golden Dog Turd), followed by a trial for cats (Kat in ‘t bakkie) and taste tests. The participants are spread across the Netherlands. Between 30 and 127 animals participated in each study.
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The main conclusion from the study: “It has always been thought that testing up to 10 days is necessary before you know anything about the palatability and digestibility of pet food. But it turns out that this is really not the case. In in many cases, we have reliable results in just a few days.”
Research is important, emphasizes Bos, who completed his PhD last year. “Tests on dogs and cats in cages do not fully represent the situation at home. For example, there is a difference between pets and animals living in cages. After all, pets are different in size and level of activity.As a result, there is room for improvement.
Development of new food
Nine companies from the pet food industry were involved in the study, including Prins Petfoods. “If home testing becomes the new industry standard, it will be a great step towards better animal welfare. When developing new feeds, we want to involve consumers in it, right from the early stages. We see that the owners are also really satisfied with the thought. In the end, the food tasting can also be done at the owner’s house. After all, they know their pet. It is very good that it is is now proven and set up from the university,” says Willemijn Lootens-Veen, product development manager at the company.
Change abounds at Prins Petfoods. The company recently launched pressed food containing insects, for a lower carbon footprint, among other things. The company is also, for example, exploring AI to support the Prins CareTeam, which answers dozens of pet owners’ advice questions every day.
One chance
Meanwhile, there’s a new dot on the horizon for Bos. “I started a start-up called Pet Panel, where I am now making the research methodology I developed during my research available to industry.” The researcher (and now entrepreneur) recently signed the notary papers: the official launch of the company. “I noticed that there was already a lot of demand from the industry during the research, so I decided that my work should not end up on the bookshelf.”
The first in-home trials for industry are already planned. Bos is confident: “With the help of in-home testing, the entire animal feed market can be taken to the next level.”
